Satellite TV Archives - Zatz Not Funny!

DISH Network Has New Set-Tops In The Hopper

While legacy television services continue to contract, I remain a subscriber (for now) and keep on eye on Dish as one of the most technically progressive service providers (and having personally been acquired, way back when). Now cable and satellite companies don’t iterate at the speed of retail-facing co’s, and generally with less fanfare when … Read more

DISH Hopper and Joey Get Voice Control Remote

DISH Hopper and Joey owners can now pick up a voice-controlled remote for $30. While we’ve yet to test its capabilities, voice interaction appears to be a highly successful initiative for Comcast and it’s certainly something I’ve periodically appreciated on Roku or Fire TV (and something we continue to wait on with TiVo). Roughly half the size of a … Read more

Digital Media Bytes

A periodic roundup of relevant news… Live television headed to Amazon Fire TV. Microsoft prepping a Roku-fighting Xbox streamer? Xiaomi to launch 4K Android TV in US as Google discontinues Nexus Player and Nvidia Shield sees nice updates. Both Apple and Google are developing Amazon Echo voice control home companion competitors. DISH HopperGO sidecar now available to offload Hopper DVR recordings … Read more

DISH Hopper Refreshed With 4K & 16 Tuners (!)

DISH has owned CES in recent years with spectacular product reveals… and 2016 sees that trend continue with massive upgrades to their flagship DVR (that I first caught wind of back in September). The 3rd generation Hopper carries forward integrated Slingbox capabilities and (limited) commercial skip, as they introduce 4k support and jump to 16 tuners. Sixteen! DISH isn’t kidding when they declare “channel conflict eliminated” as this surely provides enough to handle all your satellite units during an evening of heavy recording plus some remote streaming.

As originally revealed, Echostar has been prepping an unsurprising Hopper 3… alongside the mysterious new DISH Wally. And, mere weeks ahead of CES, details have started to trickle out. The single tuner Wally satellite receiver may be targeted towards small business, in addition to secondary rooms, and will run only $7/mo in rental fees. The non-DVR STB includes HEVC decoding … Read more

DISH Prepping Slingbox-Powered ‘Hopper Go’

While we’re not exactly fond of Sling Media’s business practices, we remain enamored of their placeshifting technology which remains best of breed. Similarly, the DISH Hopper offers one of best DVR experiences out there. Indeed – the latest, greatest Hopper includes Slingbox capabilities to catch your content around the house or beyond via smartphone, tablet, computer, or … Read more

DISH Hopper 3 and Wally (?) Pass Thru The FCC

A third generation DISH Hopper just broke cover at the FCC. The second gen model won CES 2013 Best of Show by building upon automatic recording and commercial skip with newly integrated Slingbox capabilities. As to the incoming model, we don’t have much to go on as the juiciest parts of the filing are confidential. Given the previously announced 4k Joey DVR extender, it wouldn’t be unreasonable to suspect the Hopper 3 might similarly include UHD capabilities – it’s all the rage these days.

hopper3

Just a day or so after sealing the deal, new graphics have been pushed to DirecTV Genie boxes at warp speed to update bootup imagery and the screensaver with AT&T branding. Faster even than Verizon can drop DirecTV from their FiOS offerings. If only making NFL Sunday Ticket available to U-verse could be as efficient… (Thanks Joseph!)